Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combined telephonic/computerized on-demand ordering system for goods or services wherein a computer network communication session is established automatically in response to a telephone call made from a requestor to a provider. The computer network data call provides video images synchronized to menu selections presented by an automated telephone response system, for example.
Electronic commerce over the Internet has rapidly developed. A potential purchaser may navigate with their web browser to a provider""s (i.e., vendor""s) web page to view textual, audio, and graphic information about goods or services prior to making a selection decision. While many Internet users have accepted or even embraced this kind of electronic commerce, other users are reluctant to use it for many reasons such as unfamiliarity, lack of understanding, worries over security of credit card information, or personal preference.
Telephonic ordering (e.g., a toll-free call to a sales representative) is also a wide used form of commerce. It is often made available in conjunction with or as a backup to on-line Internet ordering or for customers without access to or interest in on-line ordering. A drawback of telephonic ordering is that information that can be provided to the potential purchaser is limited to audio information (either prerecorded or spoken by a live operator).
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a means of acquiring goods or services with the simplicity of telephonic ordering while providing the ability to display video images to the potential purchaser.
2. Description of the Related Art
Internetworking (i.e., the interconnection of many computer networks) allows the interaction of very large numbers of computers and computer users. The most well known example is the Internet. Computers connected to the Internet may be widely separated geographically and utilize many different hardware and software configurations. In order to achieve communication sessions between any two endpoints on the Internet, an addressing system and various standard protocols for exchanging computer data packets have been developed.
Each packet sent over the Internet includes fields that specify the source and destination address of the packet according to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses assigned to the network interface nodes involved. Currently assigned addresses comprise 32 bits, although future standards allow for 128 bit addresses. The 32 bit addresses are normally written by breaking the 32 bits into 4 groups of 8 bits each and writing the decimal equivalents of each group separated by periods (e.g., 208.25.106.10).
Since numerical IP addresses are inconvenient to use and remember, a protocol for assigning and accessing logical names is used known as the domain name system (DNS). DNS servers are deployed within the Internet which perform a translation function between a logical domain name such as xe2x80x9csprint.comxe2x80x9d and its numerical equivalent xe2x80x9c208.25.106.10xe2x80x9d. After receiving an IP address back from a DNS server, a computer can forward data packets to the IP address and establish a connection or session with the remote computer.
While the DNS system works well for hosted content (e.g., material made available for browsing by commercial and private entities), it is not well suited to ad hoc communications or exchanges of data between individuals. Hosting a website and registering an IP address within the DNS system is expensive and time consuming. Furthermore, due to an impending shortage of IP addresses and the cost for maintaining use of each IP address, many Internet service providers assign IP addresses dynamically to their individual users. In other words, when a user signs on to their service, they are temporarily assigned an IP address from an address pool assigned to their service provider. The user occupies that IP address only for their current session.
Even when individual users have their own static IP addresses, and when other users can remember the IP address of a user with whom they would like to establish a connection session over the Internet (e.g., for voice or video telephony), the need to configure their hardware or software is too complex for many users. This is one reason why e-mail is such a popular and successful Internet application. A mail server with an easy to remember domain name acts as intermediary between two individual users. Using a simple application program and the recipient""s account name on the mail server (i.e., their e-mail address), text messages and computer files can be exchanged. The exchange, however, does not allow the users to interact in real time. Thus, there is a need for a way to allow two or more individual users to establish interactive connection sessions over the Internet without requiring overt knowledge of the other""s IP address and without complicated configurations or set-ups.
Copending applications U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/978,616 and 10/033,813 teach the use of a central server allowing two or more individual users to establish interactive connection sessions over the Internet without requiring overt knowledge of the other""s IP address and without complicated configurations or set-ups. Each user registers with the central server, resulting in a database of users and their current IP addresses. A calling user sends a request to the central server to establish a connection with a called user. The central server can either relay all network message packets between the users for the duration of a xe2x80x9ccallxe2x80x9d, or it may provide the IP addresses to the users so that they can exchange packets directly. The called user may be identified within the database by information well known or easily discovered by other users, such as their telephone number. A telephone call may be established simultaneously with establishing the computer network session, thereby enhancing the user interaction regardless of the type of computer data to be exchanged (e.g., video frames, computer files, etc.). In one embodiment, the computer network session is automatically established in response to the act of dialing the called user""s telephone number.
The present invention provides an on-demand ordering system for goods or services employing a computer network communication session that is established automatically in response to a telephone call made from a requester to a provider. The computer network data call provides video images synchronized to menu selections presented by an automated telephone response system.
In one aspect of the invention, a method is provided for acquiring goods or services from a provider. A requestor dials a telephone number of the provider to establish a telephone call over a public switched telephone network. The telephone number is input (preferably automatically) to a first computer accessible to the requester, the first computer being connected to a computer network. The telephone number is transmitted to a central server within the computer network. A central server within the computer network maintains a database of registered providers, their telephone numbers, and IP addresses of provider computers. The database is checked for the dialed telephone number. If the dialed telephone number is found, then a data call is established between the first computer and a provider computer identified by the database. Video images concerning the goods or services are transmitted within the data call. The requestor indicates a selection of one of the goods or services. The provider delivers the chosen good or service to the requester.